A different Vue on hurdlers?

Nothing excites a crowd more than hurdle racing – but it is far too difficult to maintain a graded hurdle strength. Or is it?

From the beginning of August until last weekend, Belle have staged a hurdle every week – bar one – and they have done so with a total hurdle strength of 10 runners.

The current champ is Ballymac Caruso who has won four of his last six, though you could hardly call his recent races ‘uncompetitive’.

Racing manager Dave Brayshaw said: “You should have heard the roar on Saturday. Five of the field jumped the last hurdle together. Everybody thought they could win it, and as they crossed the line there was only three quarters of a length between all five.

“Hurdle races are such a crowd pleaser here. I have a mate who comes racing about once a month and says ‘I love the hurdle races because they are always exciting finishes’.

“I haven’t had the heart to tell him why. We know that most of the hurdlers are rogues who leave a bit out there and could do better if they wanted to, but he doesn’t realise and a lot of racegoers don’t. They just see two or three dogs with nothing between them. Yes they are rogues, but I won’t ever knowingly run dogs who are likely to be aggressive and harm another runner.”

Of the ten runners in the table below, two are veterans and one has already been retired.

Brayshaw said: “After Milo was six years old and during his career had won over all distances expect sprint and marathons, flat and hurdles. His trainer Joy Andrews was schooling Windy Review over hurdles and said she would retire Milo as soon as Review could take over.

“We have also put Valiant Boy back on the flat and he won an A9 on Saturday. He is virtually the oldest dog at the track and couldn’t keep up with the other hurdlers who would have probably been between five and seven grades higher than him on the flat.

“But we have a couple of others who should be available shortly. Not all trainers are prepared to school dogs over the hurdles and some are better at it than others. For example we know that if Joy or June (McCombe) bring a dog for hurdle racing, he will be the finished article.

“I try to run at least one hurdle and four stayers races every weekend. From a racing office perspective, we like a bit of variety too.”